MISSION IN HAITI: DIPLOMACY

MISSION IN HAITI: DIPLOMACY; In the Haiti Showdown, Is the Task Completed?

By STEVEN A. HOLMES,

Published: October 5, 1994

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30—
Like the hero in an old grade-B Hollywood western, William H. Gray 3d is set to ride out of town, having cleaned up the mess that was the Clinton Administration's Haitian policy.

At least that's the way he sees it.

"We have accomplished the goals," he said recently over lunch. "That's why I'm leaving. The goals were: one, restore democracy. Guaranteed. Two, return Aristide. Guaranteed. Three, get the coup leaders out of power. They're out of power. They're sitting in their offices with nothing to do. And four, get the multinational force in there to protect the pro-democracy people and to keep the pro-democracy people from killing the coup leaders. That's happened."

Sure, he conceded, all "is not sweetness and light" in Haiti for the Administration, for the country's still-exiled President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, for the Haitian people and for the thousands of American soldiers in the country.

Last week, the 130-day period for which Mr. Gray had accepted the job as President Clinton's special adviser on Haiti expired. And though there has yet to be an announcement, Mr. Gray has virtually stopped working on the issue. Believing his mission completed, he is impatient to get back to his full-time job of running the United Negro College Fund.

He says one of the reasons he left Congress in 1991 to head the college fund is because he saw his way to the top blocked by the presence of Thomas S. Foley, the House Speaker, and Richard A. Gephardt, the majority leader. Mr. Gray, who was majority whip, was also dogged by reports of legal troubles, with Federal agents inquiring about his finances and ties to the Philadelphia church where he was minister. (No charges were ever brought.)

"My viewpoint was, did I want to sit here for another 15 years to become speaker?" he said. "My answer was no."

Whether the Administration's policy will ultimately bring stability to Haiti and whether Mr. Gray played a central role in shaping that policy are open questions. While Mr. Gray takes a measure of credit for the current situation, some on Capital Hill feel that may not be wise.

"When a diplomatic policy results in a military occupation, that usually is the definition of a failure, not a success," said Robert G. Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat and head of a House subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs.

And many within the Administration argue that while Mr. Gray had influence, it would be misleading to assign him a leading role. Anthony Lake, the national security adviser, and Strobe Talbott, the Deputy Secretary of State, had far bigger roles, they say.

Also, along the way, Mr. Gray made a number of poor predictions. In May, for example, he argued that economic sanctions could bring Haiti's military rulers to heel and that military intervention would not be necessary.

Then he said that if United Nations troops were to be sent to Haiti, the American contingent would be small. Under the current plan, Americans will make up half of the 6,000-member United Nations force that is to replace the occupation force next year.

There are, however, a number of areas where Mr. Gray's contribution was clear. His contacts in Congress helped keep grumblings about the Administration's policy from breaking into the open. His relations with Father Aristide were much better than those of his predecessor, Lawrence A. Pezzullo. Indeed, when former President Jimmy Carter negotiated a deal with Haiti's military leader, Lieut. Gen. Raoul Cedras, that allowed General Cedras to remain in the country, it was Mr. Gray and Mr. Lake who convinced Father Aristide not to be critical.

Perhaps Mr. Gray's biggest contribution concerned refugees, a topic that had produced torrents of criticism, especially from the left, just before he was appointed.

At that time Randall Robinson, a Washington lobbyist, was in the middle of what would be a 27-day hunger strike to protest the Administration policy of summarily returning Haitian refugees. Protesters, including some members of Congress, were being arrested outside the White House to make the same point.

On the day of Mr. Gray's appointment, the President also announced that the policy of repatriating Haitian refugees without granting them hearings would end. Mr. Gray said the two announcements were linked.

"I certainly could not have taken the position of special adviser if direct return had remained the policy," he said. "My goal in the first month and a half was to solve the refugee problem because if you don't solve it, you will never be able to solve the political problem."